1957 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with a dog named Laika on board, becoming the first country to launch a living creature into orbit. The capsule was not designed to be retrievable and she died a few hours later from stress and overheating.

1993 – A series of fires destroy 1000 homes in southern California, causing between 500 million and 1 billion USD of damage. Half of the fires turn out to be arson.

1995 – After attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings Square, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is mortally wounded by an extreme right-wing Israeli assassin. He dies of his wounds later that night in a Tel Aviv Hospital.